Unbiased in-depth review
of Sellfy – Here Is What You
Need to Know Before Buying
First things first; congrats! The fact that you’re looking into Sellfy and trying to find the best platform to help sell your digital products means that you’re on the right track.
Industry statistics show that there are over 2 billion digital buyers (i.e., more than 26% of the global population) scattered in nearly every corner of the globe—and the number keeps increasing at an unprecedented rate. This means that 1 out of the next 4 people you encounter is a potential client to your eCommerce business.
But as with any industry, you need the right tools to survive, swat competition to the curb, and thrive. If you’re a creative (i.e., digital products are your forte) your ‘tools of trade’ include the likes of Sellfy, Selz, SendOwl, Gumroad, etc.
To ease your buying decision and to help you grow your eCommerce store, this review gets into the nooks and crannies of Sellfy—including a comparison with other competing platforms, Selfy Pricing, it’s pros & cons, and an unbiased review of the features.
Sellfy in a Nutshell
Simply put, Sellfy is a customizable storefront that focuses on selling digital products. It allows you to display your products and serves as the focal sales points—while allowing you to add your products or your entire store to a website or social media platform of choice.
Sellfy seeks to make the hustle and bustle of starting a digital product store easy with a variety of features that caters to all budgets. This helps you focus on what matters – i.e, creating the best products for your audience and making sure you reach as many people as possible.
Who is Sellfy for?
According to its website home page, Selfy is an “…e-commerce platform for creators…[to] Sell digital products, physical goods and subscriptions all from one place.” In other words, Sellfy is for anyone who sells anything online.
But it’s optimized and best suited for creatives who sell digital products such as software, videos (e.g., webinars), eBooks, databases, product keys, subscriptions, or even audio files. It’s also applicable if you own a website or blog, and you’re looking to monetize it by selling digital products.
How Does Selfy Work?
Here’s how Selfy works:
You build your storefront after signing up to either a paid subscription or the FREE trial.
You customize your store to align with your brand image.
List your digital products and specify their pricing.
Follow the best practices to optimize your store for searchability – i.e., make it SEO friendly.
Connect a payment processor. You can choose between PayPal and Stripe.
Integrate third-party solutions such as Zapier, Facebook, and Google Analytics to expand Sellfy’s functionality.
Drive traffic, nurture leads, and make that cash with the help of effective digital marketing strategies.
I’m sure you have a rough idea of what Sellfy is all about by now. But how good and effective is the software solution? We take an objective look at every aspect of the platform from features to pricing to help you determine whether Sellfy is what your online business needs.
Why Use Sellfy? – The Challenge with Selling Digital Products
Your planned or already-established foray into the e-commerce space has largely been aided by consistent innovation and the increased ease of access to it. That is to say, the internet is awesome. The number of people who sell online is not surprising anymore.
With an online store, you forego certain expenses and hurdles that traditional businesses cannot get rid of. That is:
Audiences are not limited to geographical locations and you do not have to find the best ‘spot’. You have the power to make your store the best spot via a variety of marketing strategies.
You also do not need to worry about rent costs with hosting being significantly cheaper.
Your store is always open and to anyone with an internet connection for the most part. A study by KPMG notes that this is actually the main reason why we scurry to buy products online.
You have access to a global consumer market – i.e., you transcend geographical borders.
This ‘digital age’ is not just for those selling physical goods, but also for you – the creative. Digital products are often the result of monetized hobbies, professional skills, or just natural talent. Photos, audio, videos, designs, or creative writing can all spawn digital products that you can then sell online.
Digital products can be sold and resold. One book can be read by millions and an instructional video can be watched and re-watched as well. Digital products can easily be embedded in social media and blogs—which is probably where a significant percentage of your clients will come from. Basically, it’s a whole world of opportunity.
But selling digital products via eCommerce also has its fair share of challenges—including:
Stiff competition—especially in saturated niches. To be candid, it’s unlikely that you’re the first person to sell the digital products in your collection. Other players have already established a foothold and claimed a chunk of your target audience for themselves.
Low traffic (*crickets chirping? Virtual tumbleweeds?). Nothing is as disheartening as pouring your soul into your products, launching your online store—but you’re not generating enough traffic.
On the opposite end of low traffic, too much interest can also be overwhelming—especially if you don’t have an automation tool.
There’s also an issue with licensing and security of the digital products.
So, how do you solve all these challenges? In a way, it all comes down to what platform you choose. E-commerce for digital products has not always been straightforward—with most available software solutions a while back choosing to focus on physical wares. Since then, however, digital-centric platforms like today’s review candidate – Sellfy – have cropped up to fill that gap.
Selfy incorporates all this and more into its structure, allowing you to embed your products into different channels—at a cost.
Sellfy Pricing: What’s Your Budget?
The Sellfy pricing page offers 3 plans—depending on the level of your annual sales. But I have to be honest; the pricing approach is rather odd. Not many platforms base their pricing tiers on the amount of sales you make. Sellfy expects you to bump up your subscription if your sales exceed the current plan’s limit.
You can either choose the Starter Selfy pricing plan ($29 per month), the Business Selfy pricing plan ($59 per month), or the Premium option ($129 per month). This pricing is based on monthly billing—but you can enjoy a 34% discount by committing to an annual renewal plan
Starter Sellfy Pricing Plan – $29/month
The Starter pricing plan sets you back $29 every month or $19 if you subscribe for the year. It’s not the cheapest option in the market—but it’s not audacious either. It gives you access to discount codes, store customization, unlimited products, and an ability to connect your domain—up to an annual revenue limit of $10,000. But brace yourself for annoying Sellfy branding here and there.
Business Selfy Pricing Plan – $59/month
For $59/month ($39 for an annual subscription) you get everything in the Starter Selfy pricing plan—plus, free migration, 10,000 email credits, and product upselling. This offering also scrapes the Sellfy branding. The Business plan is ideal for small businesses in the growth stage – i.e., those with annual revenue of up to $50,000.
Premium Sellfy Pricing Plan – $129/month
The Premium offer comes with everything in the Business pricing plan in addition to priority support and 50,000 email credits. Opting for an annual billing allows you to save as much as $1,068 as long as your sales don’t surpass the $200,000 mark.
But what if your annual sales exceed the limit in this premium offering? High volume sellers have to contact the support for customized pricing options to cater to their unique needs.
Selfy Free Trial
Sellfy offers potential users a 14-day FREE trial to test out the platform. And no, you don’t have to provide your credit card—so you can rest easy.
The caveat to the free trial is that you cannot process sales with the plan. You have to subscribe to a paid plan to make sales via the platform. This makes sense—but it’s also a bummer.
Features: What Does Selfy Offer?
When chasing online success, there are the basics that you expect from any e-commerce platform. The basics can only take you so far. It is the extra features that really empower you to make your store stand out, and as hassle-free as possible – for your own peace of mind. So, what features does Sellfy have for you?
Online Store
If you are starting from scratch, Sellfy has got you covered. Even if you have no website to speak of, Sellfy provides you with a user-friendly website-builder interface that lets you set up and customize a site in just a few minutes.
Attention is paid to branding and the customization options—which give you free rein when determining the look and feel of your site. The default templates are usable if you want to postpone the customization, but everything can be edited to your liking—buttons and backgrounds alike.
Sellfy also provides the international touch with an optional native greeting from wherever your audience is visiting your site from. The site is responsive to accommodate the millions of mobile device users who form a huge portion of online shoppers today.
Support for a Variety of Products
There are no constraints as to what you can upload to your Sellfy storefront and sell. Sellfy supports many digital formats, with the added bonus of having unique signage on all products sold and limiting the number of times a particular user can download a product. Sellfy also allows you to have periodic subscriptions, and you can determine the frequency for receiving the recurrent payment.
Should you wish to diversify—say, have your graphic designs in print, on mugs or t-shirts—Selfy also lets you sell physical wares as well. And the two categories can complement each other very well and allow you to upsell.
Analytics
Most online fields of business are data-driven and Sellfy has reporting tools to help you have an in-depth look at how your business is performing. You can know which products are selling like hotcakes and which ones are crawling off the shelf.
Statistics from your other sales avenues like social media and other websites also provide valuable insight as to what is working well and what needs some tweaking or abandoning altogether. You can tell where your biggest fans are from—and maybe add a few easter eggs for that crowd as a way to keep them coming back.
SEO and Digital Marketing
Sales and marketing always go together and Sellfy has integrated email marketing capabilities into the platform. You don’t need to grapple with confusing and sometimes ineffective third-party extensions.
It also has SEO features that ensure your store has online visibility for your particular niche of products. This means that you can implement your email marketing strategy right off the bat—be it periodic newsletters or product updates and offers, thanks to the onboard discount code feature.
SEO and Digital Marketing
If you are familiar with Zapier, you will be delighted to know that Sellfy can integrate with the thousands of extensions found there in case there is a specific functionality that Sellfy does not have natively. Selfy also has Facebook Messenger functionality to help you better interact with your clients.
Embedding Options
The Sellfy shopping cart can be embedded on your blog, website, Facebook for Business, and clickable CTAs to your videos say, on YouTube. The ability of Sellfy to embed gives you many sales channels and introduces you to a much wider audience.
Secure Payment Options
Security is everything in the online space—and your customers’ needs to be ensured of the same. That, and providing the convenience of more than one payment option so that your customers use what is available to them.
Sellfy uses PayPal and Stripe, the former being one of the most popular transnational platforms globally. For your credit card shoppers, Stripe is there in case PayPal is not available for some reason. These two platforms are renowned and trusted for their security.
Pros and Cons of Selfy
Nothing in this world is perfect. And by virtue of being unbiased, there are a few things I like about Sellfy and others that really nag me.
Why You Should Use Sellfy
As far as e-commerce platforms go, Sellfy does have attributes that sway you towards using it as opposed to the rest.
Sellfy is easy to use and which is a relief for first-time users and those who are not tech-savvy.
The focus on digital products allows you to add a variety, and sell them along with any physical goods you may have. Sellfy has functionalities that protect the seller, like making every digital sale unique.
There is a 14-day FREE trial. No credit card information is required.
Sellfy integrates with platforms lie Facebook, Zapier, and Google to enhance its core functionalities.
Sellfy has PayPal and Stripe as secure payment options.
Payments can be received in over 20 currencies.
Sellfy has upselling and cross-selling to boost your sales as well as discount code offers to woo your customers into buying.
Sellfy has built-in email marketing and SEO functionality.
Sellfy sites are responsive on different screens, be it desktop PCs, laptops, and mobile devices.
Sellfy supports offering subscriptions to your customers and lets you determine the subscription periods.
It is possible to embed Sellfy carts and CTAs to any other online platforms you may have.
There is no limit to the number of products you can have in your store.
Sellfy provides in-depth insight via reporting and analytics to help you steer your business accordingly.
Why You Should Not Use Sellfy
No platform is perfect. Sellfy has some shortcomings of its own.
There are only two payment options.
Affiliate programs are not supported.
You may find the customization options a little limited compared to other platforms.
The 14-day FREE trial is rather short. Some competitors offer 30 days.
A steep rise in price between Starter, Business, and Premium plans.
Testimonial – Reviews from Real Users
Most users heaped praise on the platform’s ease of use, features and how they’re applicable for their businesses.
Positive User Reviews
Most users heaped praise on the platform’s ease of use, features and how they’re applicable for their businesses.
Negative User Reviews
Despite resounding positive reviews, a few users faulted the platform’s pricing and slow customer support.
Comparison with Similar Platforms – Sellfy Alternatives
Quick question: If you were hard-pressed to subscribe to Sellfy or close the browser tab in their sign-up page at this very moment—what would you do? And you have to pick one of the two options within 5 seconds.
To quote Bryan Cranston, “To me, character in a person is judged by the decisions that are made under pressure.” So, whichever option you picked in the virtual scenario above should be a good judge of where your preferences lie.
If Sellfy doesn’t tickle your fancy—or if you prefer to test the waters before cashing in—here are some alternative to consider.
Sellfy Vs Shopify
Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. While Selfy pays more attention to digital products, Shopify achieves this via plugins—but is otherwise more catered towards physical goods.
Shopify has its own app store while Sellfy depends on Zapier for that. Shopify one-ups Sellfy when it comes to customization, customer support quality for all price tiers and sheer reputation. Sellfy has its perks when it comes to digital products but as an e-commerce platform, Shopify takes the cake.
Sellfy Vs SendOwl
Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. While Selfy pays more attention to digital products, Shopify achieves this via plugins—but is otherwise more catered towards physical goods.
Shopify has its own app store while Sellfy depends on Zapier for that. Shopify one-ups Sellfy when it comes to customization, customer support quality for all price tiers and sheer reputation. Sellfy has its perks when it comes to digital products but as an e-commerce platform, Shopify takes the cake.
Sellfy Vs Payhip
Payhip’s business model is very different from Sellfy’s. Where Sellfy charges according to pricing tiers, Payhip charges no subscription fees but instead take a 5% commission from every sale. Payhip offers storefront customizations as well and is also pro digital products.
The two platforms are similar except in pricing. While Payhip’s model may be great for startup businesses, you may have to reconsider it once business picks up, and the 5% cut is more than you are willing to pay.
Sellfy Vs Gumroad
Gumroad is for the creators and artists. It is a platform for digital products like e-books and comics. The checkout is great, and so is the website builder. Their fees are budget-friendly – but there are a number of commissions and transnational fees that you may not be aware of. While Sellfy falls behind in some areas, it can at least boast of transparency that Gumroad can only dream of.
Is Sellfy the Right Solution for Your Online Business?
Sellfy is clearly one of the best platforms in the industry—but it’s got stiff competition. Whether it’s right for your business (or not) is a matter of choice, your business’s characteristics, and preferences. For example, Sellfy is a noteworthy eCommerce platform for creatives looking for an easy to use, yet comprehensive solution. But if you’re looking for a more affordable platform, you’re better off with the likes of SendOwl.
As usual, the best way to determine whether Selfy is the best eCommerce platform for you is by giving it a try with the 14-day FREE trial.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Please note that this Sellfy review contains affiliate links. I am an independent affiliate of Sellfy products and not an employee. The review and opinion highlighted in this article are my own and they are in no way official statements by eBusiness4us or Sellfy.
Gary is the founder and owner at Digital Review Boss & Snappy Sales Video, a Brighton-based video production companies, who has a deep obsession with making videos as often as possible and how to optimise websites for brand awareness and conversions.